Applicator for dispensing tablet medicaments



Feb. 23, 1960 E. w. LYNN APPLICATOR FOR DISPENSING TABLET MEDICAMENTSFiled D ec. 16, 1958 i51 RI-In INVENTOR. EDW! N W. LYN N FIG. 4.

A 7' TORNEYS'.

APPLICATOR F OR DISPENSING TABLET MEDICAMENTS Edwin W. Lynn, Irvington,Ni, assignor to Celluplaetic Corporation, a corporation of New JerseyApplication December 16,1958, SerialNo. 78ti,731

' 7 Claims. (Cl. 128-264) g The present invention relates to applicatorsfor dispensingmedicaments intablet'form, more particularly toan'applicator for dispensing' i'elatively fragile medicinal tabletsintoa body orifice such as the vagina. The new applicator is of simpleconstruction, may be readily cleaned, insures delivery of themedicinalstablet' to the desired location in the body o'rifice withoutfracture of thetablet and is simple to operate by the user. in the newapplicator, a tablet is frictionally gripped without undue pressure andheid in oriented position during; in-

sertion intothe body cavity. A simple molding'process may be employedfor manufactureofthe device.

' Briefly, the new applicator comprises a housing portion having amedial cylindrical passage therethrough opening atone end into anenlargedtablet receiving chamber and theunewapplicator is particularlydesigned for use with flat'tablets,.the'tablet receiving chamberthereof: is contouredifor holding such shape tablets. In order to allowfor differences in tablet dimensions occasioned by wear oftheimoldemployed in their'manufacture, the chamber. is so shaped as toengage the tablet at at leastfour spaced locations. This constructionavoids crushing of the tablets while insuring'thatthe tablets will beproperly held and oriented-in the housing during insertion in the bodycavity.

t For a better. understandingofthe invention" and" for specificembodiments thereof reference may be hadto the accompanying drawing ofwhich:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view through an applicator embodyingthe invention, a tablet being shown in dotted lines held therein;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the housing of theapplicator of Fig. 1 through a plane normal to that of Fig. l and on theline 22 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is an end view of the applicator of Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but representing a modification.

The applicator of Figs. 1 through 3 comprises a housing 2 of moldedplastic material such as cellulose acetate, cellulose butyrate or thelike, a tubular handle portion 4 of similar material and a plungerelement 6 preferably of clear crystalline material. The plunger 6 may bea solid rod, but preferably, as shown, is of tubular material having aflared outer end 8 adapted, when the plunger is in position to eject atablet, to engage the end 10' on the handle portion 4. At its inner endthe plunger 6 has a reentrant lip 12 which provides a smooth wall forabutment with the tablet. The housing has a smooth outer i L contour,being oval in cross section at its forward or tablet receiving end, andgenerally cylindrical at its other .end, with a maximum cross section ashort distance from its forward end. A smoothly curved shoulder 14 isformed integral with the housing at its rear end. The housing has acylindrical passage 16 formed therein which adaptednat its other end toreceive a tubular handler withinflwhic'h an operating rod or plunger isdisposed; As

I tablet.

position because the spacing between walls 24' and 26, is

is stepped at 18 to provide clearance for reception of: the

inner'end of the holder 4. Although the holder 4 has-africtionfit withinthe end of passage 16, it is preferably? permanently bonded to thehousing 2 by means of a solvent. The passage 16 at its forwardend'terminates in an enlarged chamber 20 particularly designed forreception of a flat tablet 22 of the pumpkin seed or tear drop shapeshown in dotted lines in Figs. l and 2.

The chamber 20 is formed between two pairs of'walls, 24, 26 and 28, 3t),walls 24, 26 being shown in section in the plane of Fig. 1 and walls 28,30 beingshown in section in the plane of Fig. 2. Walls 24, 26 aregenerally arcuate and of uniform thickness and converge only' slightlytoward the junction of chamber 20 with passage 16.

but substantially greater than the thickness of the tablet.

Walls 28, 30 have inner surfaces which for a short distance from the endof the housing, to the' location indicated at 29in Figs. 1 and 2, arenarrow and parallel.- Beyond the location 29 the walls widen andconverge toward thej'unction with passage 16 as shown in Figs. '1 and 3.The narrow parallel surface portions of walls 28 and 30 are of a widthabout equal to, or slightly greater than,

the peripheral thickness of the tablet 22, and the spacing between thesesurface portions is slightly less than the maximum width of the tablet.When a tablet is inserted into the chamber-the flats, or parallelsurface portions,

of walls 28 and 3t scrape enough off the tablet-to. retain the tabletherebetween in oriented position. When the portions of walls 28 and 30,four areas of support for the The tablet can be inserted in only oneoriented less than the major width of the tablet.

Molded: tablets, such as the tablet 2 2, are granularand frangible.Their composition is ordinarily such that they tend to abradeor wear'themold inwhich theyareformed: Consequently,as:a mold becom'esworn itp'roduces larger tablets, principally thicker tablets? With the abovedescribed shape of chamber 20, a tablet of increased thickness can be asreadily inserted as a standard size tablet as the walls 24 and 26 do notengage the tablet. A tablet of greater maximum width can also beaccommodated within the chamber because the flats of walls 28, 30 willshave off the excess material of the tablet and retain the tablet inoriented position irrespective of initial width of the tablet.

In use of the above described applicator the tablet is inserted as abovedescribed. With the plunger 6 retracted the housing carrying the tabletis inserted into the body orifice to the desired location for thetablet. The plunger 6 is then moved inwardly to engage the tablet andforce it from the housing, the curved reentrant wall 12 of the plungerengaging the tablet at symmetrically located edge areas and therebyproviding a positive but gentle unidirectional force for ejection of thetablet without danger of fracture. The inner end of the plunger 6 cannot extend beyond the outer end of the housing because of the provisionof the flared end 8 which, in cooperation with the end 10 of the handle4, provides a stop to limit the travel of the plunger. Because thediameter of the flared end 8 of the plunger is greater than the maximumdiameter of the end of the handle 4, the plunger may be readily graspedfor removal or retraction during loading of the chamber.

The embodiment of the invention illustrated in Fig. 4 differs from thatof Figs. 1-3 primarly in the contour of In the plane of Fig. l thedistance between-these' walls is slightly greater than the diameter ofpassage 16 Y 3 the tablet receiving chamber. invention the side walls 28and 30', as in the embodiment of Figs. 1-3 have narrow parallel surfacesfor a short dis tance, say 5 from the forward end of the housing. Thesesurfaces converge toward the junction with the passage 16 withoutincrease in width. There is .thus formed a substantially uniform pair ofchannels from the outerto the inner end of the housing for reception ofopposite edges of the tablet. In this embodiment of the invention someof the sides of a tablet adjacent the edges are sheared off by thechannels 28' and 30, the amount sheared ofi depending upon the width anddepth of the channels and the thickness of the tablet. As in theembodiment of Figs. 1 to 3, the tablet will be held in oriented positionand is gently ejected when the lip 12 of the plunger is pressedthereagainst.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the inventionprovides a novel and useful applicator for tablet medicaments that holdsa fragile tablet gently but firmly in oriented position, that insuresready ejection of the tablet when desired, that may be easilydisassembled for cleaning and that is smoothly contoured on its outersurface for easy penetration of a body cavity. Because edge surfaces ofa tablet are shaved or sheared when the tablet is inserted into theapplicator, the retaining forces on the tablet are minimized and madeuniform irrespective of initial size of tablet and danger of crumblingor breaking of the tablet is obviated. Also, because of the externalplunger stop provided by the flared end of the plunger, danger ofpenetration of abody cavity by the other end of the plunger, withconsequent possibility of damage to body tissues, is avoided.

The invention has now been described with reference to two specificembodiments thereof. Obviously various changes in the specificconstructions illustrated could be made without departing from thespirit of the invention or the scope of the accompanying claims.

The following is claimed:

1. An applicator for dispensing fragile tablets into a body cavity,comprising in combination, a smooth walled molded plastic housing ofgenerally oval cross section at one end and of cylindrical cross sectionat the other end and provided with a medial passage therethrough, saidpassage at the first mentioned end of said housing widening into atablet receiving chamber contoured and dimenaimed to provide oppositewall surfaces within the cham- In this embodiment of, the

her that arev parallel for a short distance from the tablet receivingend of the housing, which opposite wall surfaces frictionally engageopposite edges of a tablet when in one oriented position, a portion ofthe length of said passage being cylindrical, a tubular handle havingone end mounted in the cylindrical portion of said passage and a plungerdisposed within said handle and adapted when reciprocated to engage atablet in the chamber and eject it therefrom.

2. The applicator according to claim 1 wherein said opposing wallsurfaces rearwardly of said parallel parts thereof widen and convergesmoothly toward the cylindrical portion of said passage.

3. The applicator according to claim 1 wherein said parallel parts ofsaid opposing wall surfaces are parts of channels formed in the Wall ofsaid chamber that converge toward the cylindrical portion of saidpassage and which receive and guide the opposite edges of a tabletduring introduction of the tablet into the chamber.

4. The applicator according to claim 1 wherein said plunger is tubularand is provided at its tablet engaging end with an inturned lip forminga rounded smooth tablet abutting surface.

5. The applicator according to claim 4 wherein the length of the plungeris substantially equal to the combined length of an assembled housingand handle and wherein the other end of said plunger is flared toprovide a stop by abutment with the end of said handle when the plungeris in tablet ejecting position.

6. The applicator according to claim 1 wherein said handle ispermanently bonded to said housing.

7. The applicator according to claim 1 wherein the distance between theopposite parallel wall surfaces within the chamber of the housing isless than the distance between two opposite edges of the said tabletwhereby said parallel opposite wall surfaces serve to shave ofi portionsof the curved edges of such tablet during introduction of the tabletinto the chamber to provide a retaining force on the tablet which isuniform irrespective of the initial size of such tablet.

Ellis Mar. 9, 1915 Van Sickle Mar. 11, 1958

